Demountable body



2g? 3935 E. if. FETCH DEMOUNTABLE BODY l3, 1933 4 Sheets-Sheet l FiledSept.

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,3mm @auf KMHMMI DEMOUNTABLE BODY Filed Sept. 13, 1935 4 Sheets-Shes?. 2

EL@ l' wm w/@nw 67 $54 y @MMT MM PM WO1/"M114 Jaime, 2&9 i193@ B. F.HTCH DEMOUNTABLE BODY Filed Sept. l5, 1933 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 Jam 283.936.. B, F, F11-CH 2,028,9@2

DEMOUNTABLE BODY Filed Sept. 13, 1953 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Patented Jan. 2S,1936 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 20 Claims.

'Ihis inventionv relates to a demountable automobileV body fortransporting freight, the body being arranged to be lifted intact withits load form a highway truck to a railway car or vice versa. Forefcient operation, such bodies should be'as large as can be convenientlycarried' on highway trucks, bodies of such proportionsbeing Well adaptedfor mounting end to end on a railway car;

In order that such containers, which may carry large' articles, may beeiectively loaded and unloaded, itis very desirable that there be widedoor openings in the ends of the containers. I-Iow- (ever, on account ofthe weight of the contents of the container, and the stresses toWhichit. is subjected in railway transportation, there is. frequently avery heavy impact against the end doors, particularly in the startingand stopping ofthe train. Accordingly, due to the size of the doorsandthe force of such impact, it is importantv that the doors bethoroughly braced at their hinges and free edges and preferablyintermediately.

On` account of the large end doorway, doors of substantially half thewidthV of the doorway, and carried'by hinges at their outer edges, aretroublesome in that they project unduly beyond the sides of thecontainer when opened, or interfere with the loading and unloading ifallowed to extend longitudinally. I avoid this diiiculty by makingeachdoor offa wide and a narrow panel, hinged' together, the narrow panelbeing hinged adjacent its outer edge to the narrow end wall of thecontainer at. the side ofthe doorway, and the hinges foldingin suchdirection that the narrow panel may be swung to lie substantiallyagainst the end wall and the wide panel be swung against theV side ofthe container. This is one of the features of my invention.

The articulated construction above outlined provides excellently forlholding the doors out ofthe way, when they are opened, but presents aproblem in effectively supporting the door at itsv intermediate hingeagainst impact from the nterior of the container.. It is important thatprovision be madeto prevent the access of. water tothe interior at thevarious hinge lines or at theV meeting edges. of the doors or the topthereof. And finally, it is desirable that thedoors, while verystrongand stili, shall be light in weight.

Means for. meeting the above indicated requirementsv are comprisedwithin, my invention, which includes special construction of. the doorpanels, special arrangement. ofv the hinges,` special. bracing' means inthe region of the hinges, and special (Cl. 18S-46) waterproong 'at suchhinges and elsewhere, all of. whichV is more fully hereinafter describedin connection with the embodiment illustrated in the drawings.

In the drawings, Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a demountable body orcontainer equipped with the articulated end doors of this invention,showing one of the end doors having a panel folded onto the side of thecontainer; Fig. 2 is an end elevation of the container with the doorsopen; Fig. 3 is an end elevation with the doors closed; Figs. 4 and 5`are horizontal sections on the correspondingly numbered lines on Figs. 3and 2 respectively, showing the doors in closed position and in openposition; Figs. 6 and 7 are horizontal sections on a larger scalethrough portions of the doors, as indicated by the correspondinglynumberedlines on Fig. 3; Figs. 8 and 9 are vertical sections through oneof the end doors, as indicated by the correspondingly numbered lines onFig. 3; Fig. 10 is an enlarged fragmentary detail of the upper portionof Fig. 8; Fig. 11 is a detail illustrating the brace, its retainer andthe waterproofing features adjacent the upper end of the. door, being asection on the line II-II on Fig. 10; Fig. 12 is a sectional elevationon the line I2-I2 on Fig. 8, showing the keeper mechanism at the lowerend of the door; Fig. 13 is a horizontal section on the line I 3-I3 onFig. 3, but broken away intermediately, showing the vertical door bracesin place; Figs 14 and 15 are fragmentary front elevations of the keepermechanism at the lower end of the vertical brace, showing such mechanismin locked and unlocked position respectively; Fig. 16 is a detail of thekeeper mechanism, being a horizontal section on the line ,I6- I6 of Fig.14.

The demountable body illustrated in Figs. 1, 2 and 3, comprises a oorframe I0, side walls II and end walls I2, connected at the cornersv byvertical angle bars I3, and a roof I4. Suitable liftingdevices areattached to the side walls; they are shown as straps I5 terminating inhooks I6. Diagonal brace bars Il attached to the side walls brace thehook straps adjacent their upper ends, and suitable roof beams (notshown) brace them laterally. 'The body is equipped with side doors I8which may be of any suitable construction. It is also equipped with enddoors, which, together with their carrying and bracing means, constitutethe subject matter of this invention.

I provide a wide door-way in each end of the container and accordinglythe end wall comprises only the horizontal portion aboveV the doorwayand narrow vertical portions between the doorway and the sides of thecontainer. These narrow vertical end walls, however, are importantfeatures, and they are braced in a peculiar manner to coact with thedoors and not only make a tight junction with the door when it isclosed, but receive the impact on the doors independently of the hinges.Thus the hinges need be made only heavy enough to carry the weight ofthe doors and resist the resulting leverage.

As shown in Figs. 5, 6 and 13, in addition to the Voutside end wall l2,there is an inner sheet parrear face of the flange of the sheet 2l) andthen lies alongside of the web 22 of the sheet 2Q and is finally weldedto that sheet at 28. This makes a very stiff lip flange projectingacross the doorway and serving as an abutment for the door, ashereinafter described.

Each end door comprises two panels 3@ and 3l hinged togetherat theirproximate edges, this hinging being preferably by continuous successionof alternate leaves and a continuous pin 32 to produce a hingecommensurate in height with the doors, such hinge being commonlyreferred `to as a piano hinge. The outer panel 3l has secured to it ahinge strap di! which mates with a hinge strap il on the end.. wall ofthe container, being shown as riveted by the rivets 26 already mentionedand additional rivets 43 engaging the sheet 25. The hinge pin l5connecting the straps it and fil stands in front of the abutment lip,made by the projecting portions 23 and 2l of the bent plates 26 and 25,and the door panel 3i carried by the hinge extends behind such lip tomake a tight connection therewith when the door is closed. It resultsfrom this construction that im pact against the inner face of the doorpanel 3l is received at the outer edge by a very rigid portion of thebody itself, rather than by the hinges, so that there is no danger ofthe hinges being distorted, even though they are comparatively light inconstruction.

The doors themselves are constructed in a peculiar manner. They compriselight internal material having compressive strength, as for instancelaminated cork 33 compressed under heavy pressure, steel facing sheets3d and 35 andreinforcing lchannel-shaped boundary members 36 and 37embracing vertical edges and similar members at the top and bottom. Allof these boundary channels Yare welded to the two sheets 3d and 35.

Due to the very heavy pressure employed. in compressing thek cork layer(I have used to advantage a 15G-ton press for this purpose) theelasticity of the cork is substantially eliminated, so that thelayer'acts as a compression member between the inner and outer facingsheets of the door. Accordingly, stresses against either facing tendingto bend the same are transmitted `by means of the cork layer to theother sheet, so that both these sheets are efective in resisting bindingstress acting on the door.

Each vertical boundary channel as 3h and 3l has its outer portionflanged outwardly as illustrated at 38 and 3S in Fig. 6. Theflange S8 isadapted-to form a close rubbing connection with the doubled portion 2'!of the end plate 25. Ac-

cordingly, when the door is closed, not only is there engagement betweenthe outer face portion of the boundary member 35 and the doubled plate25, but the latter is further engaged the flange 3S which rubs againstthe rounded portion of such plate. This makes a very tight waterproofconnection between the door and end wall of the body, preventing accessof moisture to the interior in this region.

The boundary member 3i on the door panel mates with a correspondingboundary member 50 on the door panel 30. Each of these boundary membershas its intermediate portion off-set in substantially semi-cylindricalform away from the door which carries the boundary member, to providespaced ears l, the ears of one member extending through notches 52 onthe other, to provide the continuous aligned hinge ears connected by thecontinuous pintle 32. This enables the panels to be hinged togetherthroughout their height. At the same time, a very tight junction is madewhen the panels are in alignment, as the two intermediate portions ofthe boundary members 3l andi!) are then in face engagement, as shown inFig. 6.

lF-.Then the doors are closed and the two panels 3i? and 3l are inalignment, the outer face of the boundary members 3l and 5B, togetherwith their anges 39 and Et provide a continuous upright outwardly facingchannel across the junction of the door-panels. In use, a suitablevertical brace, hereinafter described, occupies this channel andprevents any outward bowing of the door panels in this region, and alsoany inward passage of moisture at the hinge ears.

The boundary member S at the free edge of the panel 3] is constructed inthe same manner as the boundary member E16 and thus embraces ythe edgeof the door and is secured to the side sheets 3@ and 35 and has theoutward flange 6I. To allow the doors to swing freely, they are arrangedto have a space between their extreme edges when closed, as shown inFig. '7. In use, this space is closed by a removable locking post, whichis to be hereinafter described, which occupies the outwardly facingvertical channel provided by the face of the boundary members and en-:lflanges 6i. This post and the braces heretofore mentioned at the pianohinges make tight connections with the door, receiving the thrust insuch regions and preventing access of moisture in such regions, all ashereinafter described.

As shown in the drawings, the outer panels'BI of the doors are narrowerthan'the inner panels 3d, these outer panels being only slightly greaterin width than the width of the end wall of the body. The piano hinge issubstantially in line with the outer face of the two panels 3i] and 3l.The result is that when the door is swung open, the narrow panel 3i maystand parallel with the end wall of the container, while the panel 3Dmay be swung into position parallel with the side wall il, asillustrated in Figs. 1 and 5. This is a Very advantageous construction,since it provides for a wide door opening, for convenlent loading andunloadin while enabling the doors to be conveniently carried out of theLway at such time and thereafterbe readily swung into closed position.

The floor frame lo of the body carries at the base of the doorway a jamb70 (Figs. 8 and 9) which extends upwardly above the floor frame proper,then again inwardly and again upwardly. The floor frame supports adouble layer of flooring- 1|, of which the lower layer rests on thefloor frame and extends beneath the horizontal web of the Z-bar 10,while the upper layer rests on the outward web and abuts the extreme endof the- Z-bar. This feature, however, is claimed in my copendngapplication, No. 500,160, led December 5, 1930.

A construction somewhat similar to that just described is employed atthe upper end of the doorway, where a Z-bar 15 is secured to the top endsheet 16 and braced by an internal transverse beam 11.

The two Z-bars 10 and 15 provide seats for the upper and lower ends ofthe door panels, limiting the inward movements thereof and enabling acomparatively tight connection above and below. The upward flange of thelower Z- bar 10 prevents any moisture working into the body under thedoor. At the upper end of the door I provide a weather strip to engagethe top boundary member of the door and prevent access of moisture inthat. region. This protection comprises a strip- 80 Figs. 10 and 11,preferably of metal, riveted to the top Z-bar 15 on the outer facethereof and bent inwardly beneath it and then bowing down at to engagethe top of the door. The strip extends continuously from oneend of thistop door jamb to the other and thus engages the tops of all the panels,insuring a tight connection.

As. heretofore mentioned, removable vertical brace bars are placed inthe vertical channels in front of the piano hinges. Such brace bars mayreadily be in the form of railroad rails 90 Figs. 3,v 8 and 13. The webs9| of the rails are reduced at the upper and lower ends and the baseflange 92 and heads 93 of the rails bent toward each other in thatregion as shown in Fig. 8. The upper end of this brace bar is designedto pass behind a structural retaining ilange shown as comprising a Z-bar|00 riveted to the top end sheet 16 and also the top flange of the Z-bar15l and to the internal brace bar 11. This not only provides aneifective keeper for the upper end ofthe brace bars 00, but forms a verystiff cross bem across the top of the doorway.

The lower end of the brace bar 90 seats in a keeper H0 secured to thefloor frame. Details of the preferred construction of this keeper appearin Figs. 12 to 16, inclusive. As there shown, the'keeper has a lowerflange secured to the floor frame, an outward web H 2, an upwardlyextending web H3 and a final horizontal flange H4 secured to the iioorframe. A central notch H5 is cut in the vertical web I |3 and the topflange H4 to enable the passage of the lower end of the brace bar 90,this brace bar having its base flange 92 narrowed adjacent its ends.

Slidable in the space between the verticalweb |f| 3 of the keeper H0 andthe vertical face of the door jamb Z-bar is a locking bolt |20 in theform of an angle bar having a base iiange |2| resting on the horizontalweb H2 of the keeper and having an upright ange |22 bearing against theinner face of the upright web H3 of that keeper. When the brace bar 90is to be installed, the locking bolt is pulled away from thev notch H5,that is, toward the left in Fig. 15, thus leaving the notchunobstructed; then, after the brace bar has entered the notch, the boltis returned to bring its vertical ange in front of the brace bar andacross the notch as shown in Fig. 16, thus locking the brace bar within.the keeper. Since the base iiange 92 of the brace bar in this positionseats throughoutr its length between the channel flanges 39 and 50 infront of the piano hinge, any lateral or swinging movement of the bracebar is prevented.

To provide ready means for operating the locking bolt and also retain itpermanently within the keeper H0, I turn outwardly the free end of thebolt as at |23 to provide a handle by which it may be readily shoved ordriven onto or out of locking position. I also provide a low upward boss|24 on the base flange |2| of the bolt which may engage the side of thebrace bar, and I form on the body of the container a suitable stopadapted to be engaged by such boss to.

prevent the bolt moving out of the keeper in that direction. This stopis shown as comprising a small plate |25 secured by a screw |26 to theZ-bar 10 and the lower layer of floor planking..

The operation of the device just described isA as follows: When thebrace-bar is to be inserted, its upper end is shoved behind the topkeeper |00 in the region of one of the. outwardly facing door channelsand the lower end of the bar is swung toward the door so that it passesthrough the notch H5 of the keeper, the bolt |20 at this time being inthe left-hand position shown in Fig. 15. Then, before the brace bar islowered, the bolt |20 is brought back to the position shown in Figs. 14and 16, the boss |24 passing beneath the lower end of the elevated bracebar. Then the brace bar is dropped down so that it rests on thehorizontal ange |2| of the bolt. The brace bar is thus effectively boxedin the keeper.

To remove the brace bar, it is only necessary to elevate it within theclearance allowed by the upper keeper |00 so that it stands above thetop plane of the boss |24; then the bolt is shoved to the left, freeingthe notch H5, and allowing the removal of the brace bar.

Brace bars similar to the bars 90 may be employed if desired, to bracethe intermediate regions of the wide door panels 30. Such bars are shownin Fig. 3 and designated |30. They are similar in all respects to thebars 90 and seat-at their upper ends in the continuous keeper |00 andVat their lower ends in keepers |3| corresponding to the keepers H0. Toprevent lateral movement of these additional brace bars, I may secure tothe outer side of the door panels 30, channel bars in which the bracebars seat, such channel bars being indicated at |32 in Fig. 13 where thechannel bar is shown as welded to the outer sheet 35 of the door. samedimensions at the channel provided by the boundary members 31 and 50which the braces 90 seat. but comprise a single member.

Reference is made to my copending application No. 668,514, filed April29, 1933, for claims on the feature of the removable brace bar extendingacross an intermediate region of the door and secured to the body aboveand below the door.

The center locking post, which extends vertically and cooperates withthe boundary members 60 at the free edges of the two doors, if of theform shown in Fig. '7, is made in accordance with my application No.689,231, led September 13, 1933, and reference is made to thatapplication for claims on such locking post. Briefly, as shown. thelocking post comprises two angle bars |40 secured together, back toback; two additional angle bars 4| secured to the outer sides of themain angle bars and two |40 to provide box-like ing bolts housings. Apair of lockare slidably mounted in these housings. These. bolts haveintegrallyturned ends"l These channels have theangle plates |42 weldedyin place behind the aligned flanges of the bars- 4 |46 Fig. 9 above thehousings, by which they may be raised or shoved down, as may be 'de-Vbehind the keeper |90. The lower end of the post' is then swung over acentrally located keeper M8 which is secured to the oor frame and has anupwardly extending cavity and the bolts 45 are shoved downwardly intothis cavity. In this position the rear faces of the angle bars. itilbear against the front face of the boundary'members 6B while the edgesof such angle bars lie snugly between the flanges 6 i. This makes atight bracing connection. The flanges prevent lateral shifting orswinging of the post vand the construction prevents access of water tothe interior in the region of the post. Extra depth is provided for thepost by inward extensions of the angle bars ist! so that the post hassufficient depth to give it the necessary stiffness to resist anyoutward pressure on the doors adjacent the central region of the.container.

It will be seen, from the description given, that I have provided acontainer with the doors so constructed to allow a very wide doorwayinto the container, and I have so arranged such doors that they will beout of the way during the loading or unloading operation. The doorpanels are individually strong andY stiff, and, notwithstanding eachdoor is intermediately hinged in itself, I have provided effective meansto brace the hinge junction. The free edges of the .doors are braced bythe locking post, and the outer edges braced by the body itself.Accordingly, the end of the container, when the doors are closed, isamply able. to resist the internal impact even though the load may shiftviolently, due to a sudden jerk or sudden stopping of the railway carcarrying the container. Finally, in accomplishing these results, I haveweather-proofed the various hinged regions, and also at the top of thedoors, so that the contents are not affected by external water or snow.The construction is comparatively simple. and at the same time isefficient in producing the results desired.

I claim:-

1. The combination of a container having a wall with a doorway throughit, a hinge con-Y necting the wall and door with the hinge axis on theouter side of the wall and door, and a flange on the outer face of thedoor projecting at an angle to such outer face, the location of theflange and the hinge axis being such that when the door is closed theflange will abut a stationary edge on the container.

2. Thel combination of a container having a wall with a doorway throughit, said wall having a -Yange projecting cros'swise of the doorway, adoor adapted to extend behind the flange, a hinge connecting the walland door with the hinge axis on the outer side of the plane of theflange, and a flange on the door projecting at an angle to its outerface and adapted to abut the edge of the body flange when the door isclosed.

3. The combination of a container having an end wall with a doorwaythrough it,4 the end wall at its vertical edge having a ange projectingfrom its outer portion crosswise of the doorway, a door adapted toextend at its outer edge behind said flange, said door having on itsouter yedge a marginal reinforcing portion which extends onto the outerface of the door in position to engage the rear face of the body flangeand have. its end flanged outwardly to engage the edge of the bodyflange, and means for so hinging the door to the container that thereinforcing member may abut the rear face and edge of the body flangewhenrthe door is closed.

'-i. A container having a wall with a doorway through it, said wallcomprising an outer and inner member, the inner member being spaced fromthe outer member and then bent toward it and flanged to lie against itand the outer member Vbent over said flange to provide a projectinglipofthree thicknesses of metal, a door adapted to extend behind said lip,and mutually pivoted hinge straps connected to the door and to saidouter wall member with the hinge axis in such position that the doorswings Vaway from the walllip as the door is being opened.

5. A container having a doorway, an articu-V lated door hinged to thecontainer and adapted to be closed in the doorway or swung open withreference thereto and folded on itself, andY a brace extending parallelwith'the folding axis and connected with opposite portions of thedoorway for retaininglrigid the folding axis of the doory when the dooris closed.

6. The combination of a container having a wide doorway in its end withnarrow end walls between the doorway and sides of the container,

a pair of folding doors each hinged to the end Wall on respectivelyopposite sides of the doorway and adapted to have their free edgesadjacent when closed, each folding door comprising a comparativelynarrow panel which is hinged to the container and a comparatively widepanel hinged to the narrow panel, the narrow panel being at least aswide as the end wall between the doorway and side of the container,whereby the wide panel of the door may be folded onto the side of thecontainer. Y

7. The combination of means having a doorway, a folding door adapted tobe closed within said doorway or swung open and fold on itself, avertical brace adapted to outwardly overlie the hinge joining the twopanels of the door when the door is closed, and means above and belowthe doorway for so holding the brace bar.

8. The combination of a container having a. doorway, a door formed oftwo panels hinged tocontainer, a vertical-brace adapted to standadjacent the hinge between the two panels on the outside of the doorwhen the door is closed, and means on the container for holding theupper and lower end of the brace, whereby the panel hinged to thecontainer is held in closed position independently of its articulatinghinge.

9. The combination of a container having a doorway, an articulateddoorhinged to the container and adapted to seat in the doorway with twopanels of the door in alignment, Va vertical brace adapted to besecured' to the container above and below the doorway and extendlongitudinally over the hinge axis, and flanges on the door panels forpreventing the lateral shifting of the brace. Y

10. The combination of a folding door comprising two panels hingedtogether, each panel having a reinforcing member whichV lies along theouter face of the panel adjacent the edge and then turns outwardly,whereby when the panels are in alignment a vertical recess is providedinfront of the hinge axis, a vertical brace bar adapted to occupy suchrecess, and means for holding the brace bar in place.

11. The combination of a door comprising two panels hinged together byan axis adjacent one face of the panels whereby the panels may be foldedon such axis, each panel having a channel-shaped reinforcing marginalmember on its edge, each marginal member having its intermediate webinterruptedly bowed away from the panel to provide a succession of hingebars and intermediate recesses and a hinge rod occupying the openingpresented by the alternate ears of the adjacent panels.

12. The combination of a container having a doorway and a flangeprojecting across the doorway at its outer edge, a door hingedly carriedby the container and adapted to extend behind the iiange when the dooris closed, said door having an outward projection to abut the end of thecontainer flange to prevent access of water to the interior at thehinged region.

13. The combination of a container having an articulated door,comprising two panels hinged together, one of the panels being hingedalso to the container, each of said panels having an outward iiangeextending from its face adjacent the mutual hinge of the panels, and alongitudinal brace bar adapted to occupy and substantially fill thespace between the said two projections and thus overlie the mutual hingeof the panels and prevent access of water thereto.

14. The combination of a container having a doorway in its end, andnarrow end walls between the doorway and sides of the container, a pairof doors hinged respectively to said end walls and adapted to be foldedinto 'alignment to substantially close the doorway, each door comprisinga narrow panel hinged to the container and a wide panel hinged to thenarrower panel, and a series of vertical braces adapted to be secured tothe container above and below the doorway and extend adjacent the hingesconnecting the wider and narrower panels and intermediately across thewider panels and above the free edges of the two doors, whereby all ofthe panels are eiectively held closed and prevented from outwarddistortion.

15. A container having a doorway, a door jamb for the doorway having aninwardly extending web with a downwardly extending ange at the top ofthe doorway, a water-prooiing strip secured to the outer face of thewall above the doorway and then bent beneath the horizontal web of thedoor jamb and in such region bowed downwardly to engage the top o1" thedoor, combined with a door adapted to seat in the door jamb with the topof the door engaging the waterprooiing strip.

16. The combination of a container having a doorway, an articulated doorhinged to the container adapted to swing onto the doorway, means on thetwo mutually hinged panels of the door to provide a channel-shaped seaton the outer side of the door, a vertical brace having base flangesadapted to stand in such channel-shaped seat, means for holding theupper end of the brace to the container above the door, a keeper belowthe door for receiving the lower end of the door, and a sliding bolt inthe keeper to lock the brace therein.

17. A door panel comprising a layer of cork compressed to substantiallyeliminate its elasticity, facing sheets of metal on opposite sidesthereof, and channel-shaped metal members at the edges of the panelhaving end flanges extending over the outer sheets and secured thereto.

18. The combination of a container having a doorway, a folding door forsaid doorway, said door having one panel hinged to the container walland having the other panel hinged to the rst mentioned panel by acontinuous hinge eX- tending substantially throughout the height of thedoors and having its axis located substantially in the outer plane ofthe panels and acting to maintain the crack between the panels closed,and bracing means disposed outside the door and cooperably associablewith the container walls in substantial alignment with the said hingeaxis to hold the hinge elements in crack closing position.

19. An articulated door comprising two panels and channel-shaped metalmembers embracing the edges of the respective panels, the web portionsof said embracing members being formed to provide hinge ears, andcooperating means passing through said ears for joining the two panelstogether.

20. 'Ihe combination of a container having a. doorway, a door mounted onthe container and adapted to close the doorway, a vertically extendingchannel-shaped seat mounted on the outer side of the door, the channelfacing in a direction normal to the plane of the door, a vertical bracehaving a base portion adapted to stand in and be positioned by suchchannel-shaped seat, said bar being independent of and removablyassociated with the door, and means on the body above and below thedoorway for demountably holding the ends of the brace when seated insaid channel.

BENJAMIN F. FITCH.

